December 2018 payroll reporting made easy

Let’s keep your employees’ information current and ensure pension continuity – submit your December Payroll Report by January 10, 2019. Check out these instructions and reminders about the process, and tools that help make reporting a breeze.

Why it’s important

Your Payroll Report is used to generate important information used in documents, such as pension adjustments and member’s benefit statements, for Canada Revenue Agency and your employees. If your report is late or inaccurate, delays and incorrect calculations could result. We might need to follow up with you to obtain (corrected) information.

Web Services user account management

For security, and to make sure payroll information is reported accurately and on time, you’ll need to decide who on your team will have access to Web Services.

Before starting your Payroll Report, review and update your list of users and the roles they perform. These users will have roles assigned to them (Primary, Secondary, User) depending on their responsibilities in your organization.

More information

There’s still time to register for the free year-end reporting webinar

This free employer webinar Payroll Reporting Refresher is perfect if you’re new to payroll reporting or wanting to refresh your memory. This two-hour online instructor-led course is delivered through Lync. If you haven’t already – register today!

Check out the Employer Education page of the secure employer website to learn more and register.

Credit employees with the right service—Long–term Disability Confirmation Report will be posted in December

The Long-term Disability (LTD) Confirmation Report for your organization will be posted to the secure employer website in December. You will receive an email with a link to instructions on what to do.

Read our instructions to find out what you can do in advance to save time and reduce future stress. If you update your LTD start/stop data by the beginning of December, your LTD report will require fewer (if any) updates later.

Why this is important

The LTD Confirmation Report shows members currently on LTD and those who were on LTD but have a stop date in the current reporting period.

Reviewing the report and submitting accurate LTD start/stop information online is crucial. The LTD service credited to an employee’s account is used in their pension adjustment calculation and recorded on their Member’s Benefit Statement. If the reported LTD service is incorrect, the result could be an inaccurate pension calculation or payment.

Questions?

Thousands of reasons why we need current member contact information

Your employees can update their contact information in My Account. If you prefer, encourage your employees to provide us with their current contact information instead of doing it on their behalf.

People move – a lot. Although it can be difficult to keep up with address changes, it’s important we have correct information on file for your employees who are plan members. We process thousands of returned pieces of mail each year. Working together, we can make communicating vital information to members easier. Follow these instructions to update your members’ contact information.

Why it’s important

Members, including those who are retired, need to receive different types of communications. If a member’s address is incorrect in our system, they might not receive key information such as a pension estimate, pension adjustment statement or their Member’s Benefit Statement.

You play a key role in making sure your employees know if their RRSP contribution room is affected by a pension adjustment (PA).Amended pension adjustment statements (APAs) will be arriving by early December to distribute to your employees. Find out what to do.

Why this is important

The PA amount represents the value of pension benefits earned in a registered pension plan during a calendar year, based on a formula provided by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Pension Corporation calculates PA amounts on your behalf. We send you this important information for you to distribute to your employees. If we provide you with electronic PAs or APAs, you will need to submit the amounts to CRA and share them with your employees.

Twice a year, in June and December, we might provide you with APAs for some of your employees. An APA is a PA that’s been recalculated to reflect new information we’ve received about a member’s pensionable service or salary. Purchasing a leave of absence or arrears can also generate an APA.

For more information

Reminder: November 30 is the last day employees aged 71 are eligible to contribute to the plan

Do you have employees turning 71 this year? There are a few things to consider.

Under the Income Tax Act, an employee must start receiving their pension no later than the end of the year they turn 71. This means if you have an employee who turns 71 this year, they must start collecting their pension no later than December 1 this year. It’s your responsibility to ensure you don’t collect contributions from such an employee after November 30.

Your employees aged 71 can keep working without interruption, but you must stop collecting pension contributions from them. After you provide their employee information at termination/retirement using the Employee Information at Termination/Retirement (EITR) tool, remember to submit final salaries, service and contributions up to November 30 on your annual/segment Payroll Report.

For example: If you have an employee born in 1947 who turns 71 in 2018, stop collecting contributions for this employee effective November 30, 2018 – even if they turn 71 in December. Your Payroll Report must not include service, salary or contributions for this employee beyond November 30.

When it’s time for your employees to retire, encourage them to visit the plan website for more information about their retirement options and process.

Let us know if you want to host a free member education workshop

Did you know you can request a free in-house member education workshop for your employees?

If you have 20–35 employees to attend a workshop, we can bring a workshop to you! There’s no cost to host a workshop – you just need to provide a suitable meeting room with a projection screen. Workshops can be arranged in most geographic areas. If you have a small group, you may partner with another local organization and request to co-host a workshop.

Choose the workshop that’s right for your employees:

Making the Most of Your Pension – a two-hour workshop for members wondering how important events in their life can affect their future pension

Approaching Retirement – a two-hour workshop for members nearing retirement

To request an in-house workshop in 2018, submit the Pension Workshop Request form available on the secure employer website under Forms. We will respond to your request within five business days.

Did you know you can request a webinar for your employees?

Webinars are a great option for employers in remote areas or with a small group of employees. Contact one of our member education staff to learn more or to request a webinar.